4 ms·
Ask HN: Making time for side project?
If you work full-time and also work on a side project outside of work, what strategies do you use to really make progress towards completing your project?
I try to get up early in the morning to hack on it, but progress is very limited.
I have taken the train and that has given me an hour each way to work on it. The only downside is that the train takes twice as long as driving.
- colept 10y agoSeparate tasks into smaller bites - trying to do too much at once will feel overwhelming as if nothing is being accomplished. This way I can do at least one thing a day and feel like I'm making progress.
- tmaly 10y agoHow do you partition your tasks?
- Namrog84 10y agoSpend some time to minimize any extraneous time spent elsewhere that is within reason for you. Going out to dinner(lots of downtime waiting on food and check). Vs you can order ahead of time to go from that same restaurant and not waste time waiting. When you work on side project when you are done for day. Write 1-2 line note of what your future self should do first and what was last thing you did. Minimize ramp up time. Buy more long lasting food and supplies at grocery store( minimize total per month trips). It's not much more time consuming to grab 4 cans instead of 2. During bathroom breaks or lunch or other downtime that you might surf web. Research things relevant to your side project. Simply wardrobe color scheme so you have less time spent sorting thru different loads of laundry. Or batch wear similar for simple laundry time. Show up to events that you can a little later and leave a little sooner (where applicable) Find more things like the above. And soon you'll start realizing you have more time for your side projects
- tmaly 10y agoThanks for the tips, I never really thought about how much time is wasted going to the grocery store.
- ISNIT 10y agoI find a lot that being around people helps. Go to a hack space (e.g. https://www.meetup.com/HackWimbledon/ https://www.meetup.com/HackWimbledon/) or spend and evening with a friend who's working on their own side project. My biggest problem when working on side projects is that Netflix is only a few keypresses away, so if you put yourself in a situation where those distractions are impossible, it really helps focus and makes the best use of your limited time.